Janney Capital Management LLC Sells 1,248 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Janney Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 87,492 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,248 shares during the quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $12,268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,391,000 after buying an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA grew its holdings in Paychex by 2,139.2% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,667,000 after purchasing an additional 282,487 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $145.46 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $150.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $142.18 and a 200-day moving average of $135.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $52.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States, Europe, and India. It offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.